Rarities of rock: The most prized Dallas-Fort Worth records

This is not a catalog of opinion, but one made using hard data — or as close to it as the Internet and whispers allow.

These are, for lack of a better signifier, the most sought-after records by Dallas-Fort Worth acts, a list built upon foundations of cold, hard cash. The prices listed on Page 5E have been set by collectors who fetishize labels with such names as Tomi, Vandan and KLIFF; by completists for whom every echo has a place reserved on a shelf; and by archaeologists who dig for lost truths in vinyl grooves.

They’re the types who are prowling the Texas Music Expo at the Irving Convention Center this weekend.

By their nature these records are rare; in some instances only a handful of copies are known to exist, even fewer are in any shape to be played.

Not long ago there were thought to have been just three surviving copies of By-Fives’ “I Saw You Walking/That’s How Strong My Love Is,” the sole mid-’60s release by Jon Williams’ short-lived Animals-influenced band out of Bryan Adams High School. That number’s now up to five.

“I had a copy too — and sold it for a lot of money to a good friend,” says George Gimarc. Longtime locals will remember Gimarc as the former KZEW disc jockey, host of The Rock and Roll Alternative on Sunday nights. He’s also the KDGE co-founder, a punk-history author and present-day Clear Channel comedy brand manager.

He is one of those treasure hunters who have always preferred vinyl to gold.

“I owned ‘I Saw You Walking’ for 20 years and decided to spread the joy,” he says. “And I was a little bummed for a while, but it’s in a good place. I used the money to buy other records. And, once in a while you have to let your children go.”

Today the record is worth $3,382.

“But I am not the one who collects rare for the sake of rare,” Gimarc says. “Rare comes along with it. There are some mega-rare records that aren’t interesting. I’m into the performance, the impact. The thrill is to find that little Easter egg when you’re hunting, the one that turns out to be important.”

That brings us to Cledus Harrison, the Fort Worth resident whose “Rock and Roll in the Groove” is the best Little Richard record Little Richard never cut — and one of the best locally made gems you’ve never heard. The song is far from impossible to find: Amazon offers “Rock and Roll in the Groove” as a 99-cent download available on a handful of odds-and-sods compilations, and it’s been uploaded to YouTube by more than one fan. No need to deprive yourself of its pompadour pleasures; the song’ll make you sweat even if you’re standing still in a meat locker.

Yet the original single itself, released at the end of the 1950s on the Natural label, is nearly impossible to find. Hence its current value: $3,000.

“Oh, is that right?” asks Harrison when reached at home. He seldom gets the chance to revisit his past and offers a brief bio: Born in Fort Worth, moved to Los Angeles after graduating high school in 1952, played with King Curtis, shared bills with Marvin Gaye and James Brown, knew Redd Foxx when he was but a bartender. Harrison is now a minister at his son’s church, and he is stunned by the revelation that his little record goes for big money.

“I’ve had people call and say this and say that about the record,” he says. “But I don’t know how many it sold or how valuable it is. That’s news to me.” Alas, he doesn’t have any copies himself, though Natural was his own label.

Collectors will tell you that only one other locally made record sells for three grand: the eponymous single by Randy Alvey’s Bridgeport band Green Fuz, whose ’69 “theme song,” a protopunk spasm blasted in clubs from Wise to Dallas counties, has been covered by the Cramps and Lemonheads. Says Gimarc, the single sells for $3,000 in mint condition — “but $2,000 if it’s playable.”

That pales in comparison to the Gentlemen’s “It’s a Cry’n Shame,” a teenage blast of Kimball High rock ’n’ roll fuzz, an acetate of which sold on eBay in July 2011 for $3,122. The reason this record went for so much: It’s an early version of one of the greatest songs you’ve never heard by a band you’ve never heard of. The actual pressing on the Vandan label is a relative bargain at $1,335.

It was Gimarc who initially suggested compiling this list and he collected the prices. How? He asks that we not say — trade secrets.

Gimarc acknowledges the system is not perfect: Discs often changes hands in secret to keep the prices from rising further. “And husbands don’t want their wives finding out what they spent.” The offerings here that end in round numbers are “sale estimates if one of those records were to happen to come up” for sale, Gimarc says. “Because some of these things never come up.”

So if you’re out and about in Irving Sunday, or at Half Price Books or a garage sale or in the attic of a recently deceased recording engineer who was also a hoarder, keep that in mind. And take the list.

The Local List

1. By Fives, “I Saw You Walking” (Tomi), released 1966.

Value: $3,382.

Gimarc sums up: “Blue-chip Texas investment piece for the hard-core trophy hunter. A killer track with great gravelly vocals and strong harmonies, chilling scream and a tune that sticks in the brain.”

3. Cledus Harrison, “Rock and Roll in the Groove” (Natural), released 1959.

Value: $3,000.

4. The Nomads, “Be Nice/Empty Heart” (Spotlight), released 1969.

Value: $1,580.

Gimarc says: “Mighty tonsil-tearing teen mayhem from Fort Worth. The second scream just before the break is one to curl toes and impress the neighbors. It’s been said that the 45 itself is comparatively abundant, but the sleeved version is the one we’re talking about here. Perhaps dangerous to estimate a quantity, but our guess is around 10 to 12 copies, with sleeve.”

Is it good? For punk rock made by Fort Worth Country Day School-trippers, sure, absolutely. “The band wanted to be the Sex Pistols in the worst way,” Gimarc says, “and what were they at the time — 15? Their appeal was they tried hard — too hard.”

6. Kenney and the Kasuals, The Impact Sound of … Live at the Studio Club LP (Mark Records), released 1966.

Value: $1,358.

Gimarc emphasizes: “This is an original U.S. pressing of a mega-rare wild garage album. Only 500 copies were pressed, and it’s impossibly rare.” Do keep in mind, the album’s been reprinted several times.

7. The Gentlemen, “It’s a Cry’n Shame” (Vandan), released 1966.

Value: $1,335.

8. The Vomit Pigs, V.P.’s EP (BAD Records), released 1978.

Value: $1,258.

The most unheralded but arguably important Dallas punk rock act of all time. Worth every penny for four whole songs, one of which (“Baby’s Playing Games”) doesn’t even come in at a minute.

9. Masqueraders, “That’s the Same Thing/Talk About a Woman” (Soultown), released 1965.

Value: $1,280.

Gushes Gimarc of this funky soul offering, which sounds like it fell off the Stax at the Motown factory: “One of the true rarest of the rare. At the time, they were still based in Dallas, playing local gigs and parties, trying to catch a break. It was Alvin Howard, a local Dallas entrepreneur, who recorded them for his new label, Soultown. Unfortunately, he inadvertently misspelled the band’s name as the Masquaders, leaving out the middle ‘e’ and ‘r’.”

10. The Last Days compilation (Campus Enterprises Record & Album Company), released 1972.

Value: $1,158.

A head-scratcher. Maybe the title’s the band’s name; perhaps it’s … more as we dig into this Christian folk-rock record out of Irving. Writes one seller, “It is revered for its wild psychedelic guitar song ‘Only His Few,’” which inexplicably transitions from weirdly soothing flute-folk into a Zep-guitar freakout played over Crosby, Still, Nash & Young harmonies. This one may deserve its own book; you’ve never heard anything like it and never will again.

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